what happened to keenan cahill

Keenan Cahill (born March 20, 1995) is an American Internet celebrity from Chicago, Illinois who lip-syncs to popular songs on YouTube.

Cahill launched his first lipsynced YouTube video on August 28, 2010 on the Katy Perry song Teenage Dream. Guest artists on his channel have included Jennifer Aniston, 50 Cent, Flo Rida, Katy Perry, Tinie Tempah, Maroon 5, Cody Simpson, Jason Derulo, Big Time Rush, Glee, The Wanted, LMFAO, Drake Bell, Justin Bieber, Gym Class Heroes, Xuso Jones, WWE wrestler The Miz and Jersey Shore’s Paul DelVecchio. He has also released a number of singles on iTunes.

In popular culture

In March 2011, at a Danish award show, TV 2 Zulu Awards 2011, he performed in a video where he was lip-synching the songs which were nominated for the Hit of the Year award.

Earlier that month, the video was released for Uncharted, a single by Sara Bareilles off her album Kaleidoscope Heart. Cahill was one of a number of celebrity lip-syncers on the video, joining Adam Levine, Josh Groban and Ingrid Michaelson, to name a few.

2011

In April 2011, Cahill appeared with Brian Wilson and Cody Ross of the San Francisco Giants performing Taio Cruz’s hit, “Dynamite”. The video also promoted a fundraiser campaign for Cahill launched by Wilson and Ross to be effected during a meeting on May 25, 2011 between the San Francisco Giants and Miami Marlins.

Cahill was nominated for a Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Star. During her California Dreams Tour, Katy Perry met Keenan and they performed “Teenage Dream” together in a video.

In August 2011, a war of words via Twitter between Cahill and WWE wrestler The Miz culminated in the two facing off in a “lip-sync battle” with the chosen song being The Miz’s WWE entrance theme (“I Came to Play” by Downstait).

5 million people

In September 2011, Cahill was nominated for Viral Web Star at the J-14 Awards. Keenan had a one-hour documentary aired on NT1 in France, Belgium and Switzerland reportedly watched by 5 million people. He later had a 13-minute documentary air on M6 in France.

In Fall 2011, Cahill performed in a music video with The Oak Ridge Boys for their song “What’cha Gonna Do” and appeared with them live at the Grand Ole Opry.

Cahill released three singles through iTunes: “Hands Up” featuring ElectroVamp (2012), “Closer” featuring SHY & DRS (2013) and “Back to Us” featuring Lovey James (2014).

Personal life

Cahill has Maroteaux–Lamy syndrome, which in his case and some other cases result in individuals developing an appearance much like that of people with dwarfism (Cahill is 127 cm (4′ 2″) tall), including thickening of the dura (the membrane that surrounds and protects the brain and spinal cord), shortened trunk, crouched stance, restricted joint movement, and enlarged hands.

Diagnosed at the age of one, Cahill was treated with a bone marrow transplant in 1997 to slow down the progression of the disease, and he has had multiple surgeries, including surgery to relieve intracranial pressure.

At the young age of 18

Recording Artist and YouTube Sensation Keenan Cahill has worked hard to cement his place in pop culture. For one thing, he has overcome incredible adversity, suffering from a rare genetic disorder called Mucopolysaccaridosis (MPS-6) since birth. For another, at the young age of 18, Cahill has achieved International success initially with the just the help of his iMac that he received for his 13th birthday.

The Elmhusrt Illinois teen rose to fame with a series of hugely entertaining self-produced videos of himself singing and lip-syncing the hottest top 40 hits. Keenan switched over to lip-syncing to find his audience. Keenan would return to singing the songs once he gained an audience of over 459-million.

2012

Keenan released his first original song on July 31st, 2012 titled “Hands Up” with UK sister-duo Electrovamp and is releasing the music video on November 20th, 2012 premiering it in the US on The Insider. “Hands Up” peaked at #14 on the US Billboard Club Play/Dance Chart. Keenan’s second single is with French DJ Oriska and UK Female Group Doremi Fly called “Tonight.” He will be debuting his third single “Closer” with Scottish Hip-Hop Duo SHY & DRS in late 2013.

Keenan’s cover of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” that first threw Cahill into the spotlight. Earning millions of views on YouTube and a legion of adoring fans for its lovably goofy take on Perry’s ode to teenage love, Cahill suddenly found himself in the midst of a whirlwind of media attention.

3-million

The video found its way to Katy Perry herself and went from 600,000 views to 3-million in the span of a single week. The video has over 60 million views to date. Suddenly, Cahill was a celebrity himself.

Since then, Cahill has collaborated with some of the biggest names in music including recent videos with 50 Cent, David Guetta, Justin Bieber and The Wanted, he would finally record his dream video with Katy Perry, but it was his famous “Down On Me” video with hip-hop artist 50 Cent that would make Keenan a household name.

Keenan credits his start to two talk show hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Chelsea Handler for first discovering his videos. He thanks Chelsea for introducing him to actress Jennifer Aniston who put him in his first commercial for Smartwater and it was DJ Pauly D from MTV’s “Jersey Shore” who taught Keenan how to “fist pump” for his song, “Beat Dat Beat.”

MPS VI

For a kid whose life had, up to that point, been defined by what he couldn’t do as a result of his rare genetic disease, MPS VI (estimated to occur once in every 340,000 live births), the impossible became possible almost overnight: the boy who spent the better part of his childhood shuttling between hospitals, suddenly had no limits on who he could become and what he could achieve.

With his new fan base of over 649-thousand subscribers and 459-million video views Keenan has caught the interests of some of today’s biggest superstars – with cameo’s including 50 cent for “Down On Me” circulating over 60-million views, David Guetta’s Mega-Mix with over 32-million views and DJ Pauly D in “Beat Dat Beat” with over 10-million views, Cahill is one of the highest subscribed music artists on YouTube.

LMFAO

In addition to Cahill’s wildly successful YouTube channel and a winningly funny appearance on E!’s “Chelsea Lately,” Cahill has also appeared on CW’s “America’s Top Model with Tyra Banks, NBC’s America’s Got Talent with Nick Cannon and ABC’s American Music Awards performing with LMFAO, Justin Bieber, Will.i.Am and David Hassellhoff.

He has created viral campaigns for the World Champion San Francisco Giants, the NBA’s New York Knicks Smartwater (starring Jennifer Aniston) and Wrigley Gum (with Serenading Unicorn). Keenan has partnered with Paramount Pictures to promote the “Footloose” movie making an amazing video with its star Julianne Hough.

An internet sensation that has become famous through videos of him lip-syncing to popular songs. He has become a target for cyber bullying and hate messages because of his strange appearance.

16 year old

Keenan Cahill is a 16 year old teenager with an extremely rare disease named “Maroteaux-Lamy Syndrome”. Maroteaux-Lamy Syndrome prevents the victim from growing past the age of 8, which explains his apearance. Contrary to popular belief, this disease does not usually include mental retardation. Sadly, along with this disease comes a very high chance of heart failure.

This teenager has become an internet sensation by posting videos of him lip-syncing, and rarely, singing. What makes his videos unique is the amount of energy he puts into lip-syncing; his videos usually include extreme head-bobbing and facial expressions, in a manner similar to the “Numa Numa Guy”.

50 Cent

But, his big break came when a popular rapper named “50 Cent” discovered his videos. And he decided to guest star in one of his videos. The video rapidly gained popularity, and eventually earned Keenan an interview in an American late night comedy talk show named “Chelsea Lately”. These greatly contributed to Keenan’s success.

Keenan Cahill is an American Internet celebrity from Chicago, Illinois who lip-syncs to popular songs on YouTube.

Before Fame

He was diagnosed with Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome, which has symptoms similar to dwarfism.

Trivia

Paul DelVecchio, Cody Simpson, and members of LMFAO have appeared on his channel. He eventually released a website for his lip-sync covers.

Family Life

After he was born, doctors told his parents that he would be confined to a wheelchair. If not treated with bone marrow transplants and surgeries.

Associated With

He has had pop star Justin Bieber appear as a guest on his channel